Lawsuit: Iowa School For Juvenile Offenders Misusing Drugs

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Officials at an Iowa school for juvenile offenders are failing to provide adequate mental health care to youth and are instead administering powerful drugs without proper oversight or consent, according to a lawsuit filed Monday by two advocacy groups.

Disability Rights Iowa and national watchdog group Children's Rights accuse administrators at the state-run Boys State Training School of giving juveniles "dangerous" psychotropic medications instead of adequate mental health services. The groups allege drugs are used as a chemical straitjacket to control behavior.

The lawsuit alleges medications have been administered without comprehensive treatment plans or proper notification to parents or next-of-kin. The boys also sign consent forms that don't detail the drugs' risks, according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Des Moines.

Disability Rights Iowa said its investigation included repeatedly visiting the school, interviewing youth housed there and reviewing health files not available to the general public. The group said the school's practices are unconstitutional and violate the American with Disabilities Act.

The Iowa Department of Human Services oversees the school in Eldora, about 60 miles north of Des Moines.

The agency said Monday that it doesn't comment on pending litigation, but it defended the school when Disability Rights Iowa released a report in August outlining similar allegations.

Youth ranging in age from 12 to late teens are held under court order at the facility. The school has 130 beds and currently houses between 110 and 120 juveniles. Disability Rights Iowa says most of the boys suffer from mental illness, and more than 60 percent have been on psychotropic drugs — yet the school only has one full-time unlicensed school psychologist and one part-time psychiatrist.

The Iowa advocacy group is part of a national network of groups with congressional support to help ensure states don't violate the constitutional rights of disabled residents. Several years ago, the organization raised issues over excessive seclusion and restraint of girls at a separate state school for juveniles in Iowa. The facility later closed.

According to the lawsuit filed Monday, boys at the Eldora school are subject to seclusion rooms and full-body restraints for minor infractions. Disability Rights Iowa alleges some of those infractions are symptoms of the youth's illnesses.

The suit alleges a 14-point mechanical restraint that includes Velcro straps for the legs, wrists and upper arms has been increasingly used at the school, including 109 times during the first seven months of this year.

By BARBARA RODRIGUEZ , Associated Press
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